The Infatuation has updated their Portland eating guide originally posted to the site last year. The current edition includes entries for Ocotillo, Cantina Calafia, and Oun Lido’s all of which have opened since last year’s version of the list was published.
Category: Reviews
Thai Tree Review
Today’s Maine Sunday Telegram includes a review of Thai Tree.
Cocktails like the bourbon-and-galangal Vogue and Thai-tea-based Open Your Heart are nods to the iconic pop star (as are all the boozy drinks on the cocktail menu). But you don’t need to be a Madonna fan to eat here. The food menu features some impressive cooking, most of which is prepared from scratch, like fragrant, well-spiced red curries; pad kee mao with wide, supple rice noodles, homemade brown sauce and torn holy basil; and delightful pandan-infused mango sticky rice.
Boston Globe on Biddeford
The Boston Globe has published an article about Biddeford.
We tend to like Biddeford, Maine, more for what it’s not than what it is. The former mill town, along the Saco River, is not glossy, overly refined, touristy, or crowded. It doesn’t shout its charms.
But look close enough and you’ll discover a buzzing energy, a town that welcomes new ideas, and a community dependent on collaboration. Biddeford has been quietly, slowly rising from its ashes (many downtown buildings stood derelict and shuttered for years), emerging as an under-the-radar hot spot for makers, artists, chefs, and entrepreneurs. The result is a destination worth checking out.
The article mentions Magnus on Water, Palace Diner, Lorne, Fish and Whistle, Dizzy Bird, The Hamburger Stand, Time and Tide, Elements, Nibblesford, Banded Brewing, Sacred Profane, Lucky Pigeon Brewing, and Round Turn.
Review of Rise Pizza & Pub
Today’s Maine Sunday Telegram includes a review of Rise Pizza & Pub in Cumberland.
…Served in a light, open space painted in vibrant yellows and oranges, chef/owner Rocco Marzilli’s pizzas run the gamut from traditional Italian-American pies to oddball options like Mexican street corn (a decent pie) or Buffalo chicken (a spicy, well-balanced riff on hot wings in pizza form). Don’t skip the Southwestern-style salmon cakes or the homemade s’mores ice cream sundae…
CNT: 15 Best Restaurants in Portland
Conde Nast Traveler has published their take on the 15 Best Restaurants in Portland.
If you ever hear anyone wonder why teensy Portland, Maine’s restaurants have such an outsized reputation in the food world, remember two things: First, those people clearly haven’t eaten here yet; and second, the answer lies in a philosophy ingrained in Maine itself…
The Salt Yard Review, Vegetarian History
Today’s Maine Sunday Telegram includes a review of The Salt Yard at the Canopy Portland Waterfront Hotel,
…It has done so partly through decor that incorporates work from local artisans, as well as through Maine-themed food and beverage options at its ground-floor restaurant, Salt Yard Bar & Café – a restaurant without a dining room. The lack of a dedicated evening dining space is not a liability when you’re able to sip bar ambassador Katrin Miller’s inventive, generally well-composed cocktails. Her Moxie Old Fashioned is a knockout and works well as a pairing for a bowl of poutine-like Korean Beef Fries made with Maine potatoes, or a delightfully messy Salt Yard Burger made with Pineland Farms beef.
The paper also shares the history and impact of the Good Day Market on the vegetarian food scene in Portland back in the late 20th Century.
A landmark vegetarian business called the Good Day Market that opened in Portland in 1970 would go on to cultivate at least five memorable vegetarian establishments and continues to flavor the city’s food scene today.
4 Star Review of Paella Seafood
Today’s Maine Sunday Telegram includes a 4 star review of Paella Seafood.
His Valencian-style, traditional paella is smokey (even without chorizo), with patches of crusty soccarat rice on the bottom and precision-cooked proteins (chicken, shrimp, calamari, mussels) that highlight why this deserves to be the restaurant’s eponymous dish. Other standouts include dill-flecked seafood soup; a sandwich of fried pollock nestled into a home-baked roll; and turmeric-tinted, deep-fried whole belly clams served scattered with almost translucent discs of thin-sliced jalapeno peppers. Paella Seafood might be under the radar for the moment, but it won’t be for long.
Today’s paper also includes an article on how distilled spirits prices are set in Maine and on the variety of taco options available in the Portland area.
Top 10: Maine Day Ventures
Maine Day Ventures has been named to their list of the 10 Best Food Tours in America by USA Today.
Explore traditional seafood standards and gourmet bites along with craft breweries and artisanal distillers on this collection of tours with Maine Day Ventures. “Savor & Saunter Portland’s East End” is a tour featuring kale handrolls, kombucha, and more, or go traditional and learn about lobsters on an “Old Port Seafood Lovers'” tour. One of their several options is sure to get you salivating, including the “Doggy & Me” tour for you and your pups.
Magnus on Water Pinned
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Congratulation to Magnus on Water. The Biddeford cocktail bar has been recognized by The Pinnacle Guide for the excellence of their bar program. Magnus is one of 37 cocktail bars in the world and one of only 10 in the US to be honored.
The Pinnacle Guide requires bars to submit a detailed self-application and then the establishment is evaluated by a series of anonymous auditors.
3 Good Food Award Winners from Maine
The Good Food Foundation announced the winners of their 2024 awards program last night. Of the 8 finalists from Maine, three were named as award winners:
- Coffee by Design for their Costa Rica Danilo Salazar Finca San Cristobal Natural coffee
- Maine Beer Co. for their Woods & Waters beer
- Speckled Ax for two of their coffees – Costa Rica La Guaca Natural and Guatemala La Bonita
You can see the full list of award winners on the Good Food Foundation website.